


Everything I See Returns to You Somehow

by ohdarlingg



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Child Abuse, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-08 02:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10375911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohdarlingg/pseuds/ohdarlingg
Summary: AU: Adam works in a coffee shop where Ronan is a regular, pining and angst ensues when Adam starts at Aglionby





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic ever, so please be gentle. 
> 
> Oh, and the title is from a Sufjan Stevens song.

Objectively speaking, the coffee shop was the best job Adam had ever had. His boss was kind, the tips were plentiful and the free caffeine perk was put to good use, especially on the nights when his shift ended and he went directly to his second job at the garage. Unfortunately, it was difficult to keep all of that in mind at four thirty in the morning, pedaling against the wind on old Henrietta roads before the sun even began to peak over the horizon.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Adam was scheduled for the opening shift. He woke up at four in the morning, took the fastest, quietest shower imaginable as to not wake up his sleeping (or passed out) parents and then dashed out the door to make it in on time. Hours later, when the rest of the world had woken up and begun their days, his best friend stopped in for a sugary latte and a distraction. It was a tradition they'd kept up every Saturday for the four months Adam had worked there.

Blue was currently perched at the bar, flipping through her sketchbook and slurping at an iced hazelnut drink. When the line died out, Adam walked over to her and leaned his elbows against the counter to sneak a look at her latest piece, a sketch of the pizza place where she worked.

It had been a steady stream of customers all morning. Summer was screeching to a halt in the late days of August and teenagers from all the schools nearby were taking advantage of their last days of vacation to enjoy the sticky heat and sunshine with iced and frozen drinks. Adam, meanwhile, was using the last few days before his start at Aglionby to scrape together as much money for his first tuition payment as he could before he had to cut his hours for school.

Blue reached over to Adam's wrist and pulled his hand to her, twisting it to check the time on his watch. "It's almost time for your favorite customer," she said, wearing a grin that Adam matched easily enough. Sometimes, when Blue looked at him like that, he thought he could fall in love with her.

As if on cue, the tiny bell above the door sounded with another customer's arrival. Blue wasn't the only one who made a habit of stopping in every Saturday. Ronan- Adam knew his name from writing it on a cup once a week, his fingers carefully sloping the letters- rarely said more than his order and his name, but the brief exchange was one of Adam's favorite parts of the week.

It probably had something to do with his stunning good looks, a beautiful display of fierce eyes and sharp edges as he approached the counter with a less than friendly expression. Sometimes Adam wondered if human interaction physically pained him.

"Cappuccino," he said shortly, as he did every week. "Ronan."

Adam scrawled Ronan's name on the paper cup with a squeaky marker and moved it over to the bar. He was quiet as he slid Ronan's card through the machine. They had developed an understood silence after a few failed attempts of Adam trying to make friendly small talk.

Ronan snatched his card back a bit roughly and took a seat next to Blue to wait for his drink.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Adam glanced over at Blue while he steamed milk even though he knew better. She was smiling, gesturing to Ronan with obvious head jerks and mouthing the words, 'Say something.'

Over the past few months, he and Blue had discussed Ronan at length. He was mysterious and unapproachable and too handsome to be ignored. They had exchanged theories back and forth about why he was so angry with the world. Blue thought he was just an asshole. Adam knew there had to be more to it than that. They were both equally fascinated.

Blue jerked her head so hard that Adam thought she might break her neck. He mouthed back, 'Fine.' As long as she would stop.

Adam set the drink down in front of Ronan. He realized too late that he hadn't come up with anything to say and led with this gem: "Hi."

Ronan looked up from his drink with a glare that said two things at once- one, that it was not okay to talk to him outside of their quick transaction and two, that he thought Adam was the stupidest person on earth. Adam was also beginning to suspect that he was indeed the stupidest person on earth as their failed interaction stretched on in silence, his ears burning red with embarrassment.

Instead of dignifying him with a response, Ronan grabbed his drink and waltzed out of the shop, the door ringing behind him.

Blue watched him go with a scowl of her own. "What an asshole!" She held her middle finger up, hoping he might catch a glimpse of it through the large shop windows, but he was already long gone.

Adam walked over to the tip jar. There was a crisp, twenty dollar bill where there hadn't been one a moment ago. Adam had never seen Ronan put money in the jar, but coincidences didn't happen on a perfect schedule, week after week. He could set his watch to the perfectly timed charity.

"He's not that bad," Adam murmured and turned away to wash dishes in the back.

\--

A little over a week later, Adam checked himself in the reflection of the mirror in Blue's bedroom. His Aglionby uniform was secondhand, slightly frayed and worn, and his furrowed eyebrows betrayed his forced smile as a display of the tumultuous emotions at war in his stomach.

No matter where you go, there you are. A uniform changed nothing about where he'd come from and who he inherently was underneath it all, but at least the long sleeves hid the bruises.

The local high school didn't start classes for another week, so Blue was still fast asleep in her bed. Adam imagined another reality where he hadn't gotten a partial scholarship to Aglionby, where he was still sleeping beside her, a steady rise and fall of chests and even breathing.

He scribbled a note to thank Blue for letting him sleep over, an excuse not to go home, and snuck out of the house with practiced diligence that didn't interrupt anyone's sleep. He mounted his bike and pedaled the route he'd already practiced three times, just to be sure he wouldn't be late on his first day.

The campus was just as large and intimidating as it was when he had biked by just to stare at it over the summer, despite having a reason to be there now. His well-worn backpack hung off a shoulder as he locked up his rusty bike, not that anyone would bother stealing the hunk of metal here, and headed inside with a held breath.

His first two classes weren't bad. He sat in the back and tried not to be noticed by his intimidatingly rich classmates while he took notes on everything the teacher said about deadlines and due dates for the upcoming year.

By third period Latin, he was beginning to feel optimistic. The tension in his shoulders had begun to loosen with the avoidance of any disasters. Feeling a rare confidence, he sat in the middle of the class before he could lose his nerve, taking a desk by the window.

The voices of the students on the other side of the room carried. Adam stared at his notebook and tried not to eavesdrop.

"All I'm saying is that he's just looking out for you," the first voice was saying. "Declan's right, you can't be skipping class already. It's the first day of school, for Christ sake."

"Fuck Declan. I don't care," came the second voice. It sounded vaguely familiar in a way that made Adam want to lift his eyes, but instead he kept them glued to the blue-lined notebook paper in front of him.

" _Ronan_ ," the first voice said. He said something after that too, but Adam didn't hear it. His good ear was suddenly ringing. He looked across the room to find Ronan slouching in a seat with an expression that could kill. Adam's heart lurched in his chest. This couldn't be happening.

But of course it was. Of course Ronan was a raven boy, rich and handsome, the entire world at his feet. And of course Adam was a nobody pretending to be something he wasn't and of course Ronan was here, in his Latin class, with the knowledge of his working class life.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" Ronan barked at him. Adam hadn't realized he'd been staring.

Adam ducked his head and tried with difficulty to ignore the embarrassment seeping through him. The teacher started class and Adam stared forward, not really hearing the friendly introduction. When the bell rang, Ronan was the first one out the door. Adam stalled until he was the last person to leave, putting as much space between them as possible. That would be a habit, he thought, avoiding Ronan to the best of his ability.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU: Adam works in a coffee shop where Ronan is a regular, pining and angst ensues when Adam starts at Aglionby

Adam probably shouldn't have been surprised to find Blue waiting for him when he got to work that night. She was sitting on a stool with her head bowed in concentration, working so diligently on a sketch of the milk pitchers behind the bar that she didn't notice Adam until he was already behind the counter, tying an apron around his waist.

"Adam! How was your first day?" She closed her sketchbook and slid it towards her pin-covered backpack. "Tell me everything. Are the classes hard? Did you make any friends?" He could tell by the way her eager tone wavered on those last words that she'd been worrying about him. The thought of Blue wasting her time being concerned for him both touched him and annoyed him at the same time.

He avoided looking at her as he rolled up his sleeves and began collecting the leftover cups littering the bar. He'd had a quick ten minutes to change out of his uniform and fold the clothes as carefully as his fumbling fingers would allow. "It was okay."

Blue's smile slid off her face. She read him too well, it was an uncanny talent that he cursed every day. "What happened?" 

"Nothing terrible, just..." He lowered his voice. "Ronan is in my Latin class."

"You're taking _Latin_? The most pretentious of all languages?" 

"Blue."

 "Sorry. Ronan? As in Cappuccino Ronan?"

"Are there other Ronans I should know about?"

Blue narrowed her eyes, but she was too excited by the news to look annoyed for very long. "Did he talk to you?"

Adam hesitated for one beat too long. "Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'what the fuck are you looking at?'" Adam realized suddenly that he'd never heard Ronan speak a full sentence before. He was used to grunts and grumbles. However angry his own name sounded on his tongue, it was nothing compared to the fury with which he spoke a string of words consecutively. 

"That asshole."

Adam made Blue a latte with extra vanilla syrup and set it down in front of her, then paid for it by putting his tips in the cash register. Blue had made it perfectly clear that she hated when he did that- those three dollars could be the difference between Adam eating dinner or not- but they'd argued about it enough times that she simply thanked him and sipped at her drink.

"So what are you going to do?" Blue finally asked. "About Ronan?"

Adam shrugged. "Nothing."

\--

Doing nothing turned out to be much easier than Adam had anticipated. Avoiding Ronan was easy enough except for in Latin, but even then Adam just stayed on the opposite side of the classroom and tried not to steal glances at him. During lunch, he sat alone on a bench in the courtyard and did homework to distract himself from the hungry protests of his stomach. It was a quiet week with no new injuries and Adam couldn't have been happier.

It wasn't until Saturday that Adam realized he'd have to face Ronan again. All morning, he tried to keep himself busy in the back, baking cookies and washing dishes and sweeping the floor. As fate would have it, he happened to be brewing a new pot of coffee and arguing with Blue about the necessity of making friends in school- it wasn't like he really had _time_ for friends anyway- when Ronan walked in.

Something was different. This week, Ronan wasn't alone for the first time in four months worth of Saturdays. Beside him was a little blonde girl wearing a beanie and over-sized boots, holding his hand and looking up at him like he'd put the stars in the sky.

Adam glanced around desperately for Jeanette, his coworker, and spotted her through the big shop windows with a cigarette in her mouth. He had no choice but to step up to the cash register and offer a faulty smile.

"Cappuccino," Ronan said. "Ronan." Same as always. Then, he looked down at the girl. "And a hot chocolate."

"With whipped cream?" she asked.

"Yeah, with whipped cream and whatever else stupid shit you put on top of bullshit sugar drinks."

A small smile formed on Adam's lips. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, but the sight of Ronan being friendly with a kid was making his heart do somersaults in his chest. His gaze fell down to the little girl. "What's your name?"

She looked downright thrilled to be paid attention to. "Opal," she said brightly.

"Opal, got it." He scrawled both of their names onto cups and slid them over to the bar. Running Ronan's card in silence, his smile grew into a grin as Opal chattered excitedly to Ronan about a flower arrangement that she liked on one of the tables. They walked over to that very table and sat down.

Adam wasn't sure what to make of the sudden change to Ronan's routine. He glanced at Blue and she responded with her own wide-eyed curiosity.

Adam wasn't stupid enough to try to make conversation again- he didn't want to talk to him anyway, not while he was waiting on his new classmate like a loser- but Opal was plenty chatty when Adam called their names out.

"Thank you!" She took both of their drinks, one in each hand, and tried to balance the weight without spilling. Ronan was still seated at the table, watching with an unreadable expression as she grinned at her cup, complete with a mountain of whipped cream and a mess of chocolate syrup.

"You're welcome." Before one of the drinks could tumble out of her hands and make for a long mopping session, Adam reached over and grabbed Ronan's drink. "Let me help you."

He followed her over to the table and set the drink down in front of Ronan. Before he could stop himself, he asked, "Is this your sister?" Somehow he doubted it. They didn't look anything alike, a dark and light contrast.

Shooting him a glare, Ronan crossed his arms over his chest in a resolute gesture to suggest he wasn't going to respond to invasive questions from relative strangers. Opal happily chimed in in his place.

"No," she said, taking a sip of her drink that left her with whipped cream on her nose. "He's just my best friend."

Adam tried to bite away his smile at the look of irritation on Ronan's face as he returned to the bar to make lattes in the empty cups that had piled up in his absence.

\--

They left an hour later, long after Blue had left for her shift at Nino's. "Bye!" Opal called out, waving at Adam with a big smile before the two of them disappeared through the door. Adam was still smiling five minutes later.

"You've got it bad, huh?"

He jumped. His boss had a talent for sneaking up on people and Adam seemed to be his favorite victim.

He turned to face the owner of the cafe. Noah was in his early twenties, but he still wore ripped denim and flashy clothing brands like an overeager teenager. He also happened to be one of the nicest people Adam had ever had the pleasure of getting to know, not that he'd ever really had many friends.

"Got what bad?"

Noah nodded at the door as if Ronan was still there. "You like him."

Adam snorted in disbelief. He didn't _like_ Ronan. Ronan was an asshole. A good looking asshole who was sort of cute with kids and had left another twenty as a tip. Regardless. "I don't." He liked Blue. Maybe. He thought he liked Blue, but the longer they knew each other, the more it became impossible to untangle his love for her as a friend from his being in love with her.

"Okay, sure." Noah smirked and disappeared into the back. A few minutes later, Adam caught himself smiling again. _Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the kind words! I'm really excited for this fic and doing my best to keep everything in character.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU: Adam works in a coffee shop where Ronan is a regular, pining and angst ensues when Adam starts at Aglionby

Life became a dizzying waltz of obligations. A comfortable routine ironed itself out under the pressure of so many responsibilities: school, work, more work, homework, bed, repeat. Adam had little time for sleep and even less time for himself, but he felt more awake than ever in his Aglionby uniform, a triumph on his part that he still couldn't completely comprehend. Sometimes he pinched himself in the arm just to be sure this wasn't a very detailed dream, detached from a depressing reality where he had no future.

With every passing day, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep Ronan Lynch out of his mind. Everywhere Adam went, he caught glimpses of Ronan slumped in his seat in Latin, scowling by his locker, blank-faced in the coffee line.

Sometimes, in class, he found himself studying the arch of Ronan's back while Professor Whelk droned on about verb conjugations at the front of the room. Adam had originally assumed that his interest in Ronan was simply admiration or curiosity, but the swoop in his stomach when he caught Ronan shooting his friend a razor sharp smile made him realize that it was none of that. It was attraction. 

So he was definitely into guys then. His sexuality was a thing he'd been vaguely aware of somewhere deep in his mind, buried under more urgent things like not starving to death and avoiding his father at all costs. His stupid crush on Ronan was just a confirmation of something he'd already known on some level.

His new busy schedule meant that he was home less, which meant run-ins with his father were few and far between. When Robert Parrish did catch his son coming home late at night or sneaking out in the morning, there was always hell to pay, an angry reminder of his place in the world and the consequences of trying to be something more.

Adam stretched out on Blue's bed, pressing an ice-pack to his eye and groaning softly at the persistent aching. Blue sat on the edge of the bed with an expression of pure fury. For someone so small, she could be very intimidating when she was mad.

He'd known this day was coming, the day when he'd have to go to Aglionby with an obvious injury, a bulls-eye of splotchy purple on his face. He'd gotten lucky so far, cuts and bruises hidden under sleeves, but luck always ran out eventually and Adam had never had much of it to begin with. It was unavoidable; he was going to have to walk into school in the morning with a swollen bruise beneath his left eye.

"Adam," Blue said, her voice soft. She set her hand over his. "Just leave. You know you can stay here."

Adam closed his eyes and allowed himself a brief moment to imagine living with Blue- having a real dinner every night, hot showers whenever he wanted, never having to go to sleep with a swollen lip again. "That's okay." 

Adam and Blue had a bad habit of circling around to the same arguments over and over again. They'd discussed this multiple times with the same result: Adam being too stubborn to accept help and Blue begrudgingly dropping the subject to avoid hurting Adam's feelings. Round and round they went in an endless cycle where neither of them were happy about the push and pull or the end result.

There were a few specific things Adam cared a lot about, the things he could control in his crazy, turbulent, uncontrollable life: schoolwork, his friendship with Blue, his independence. These were the things that made him Adam Parrish as opposed to yet another broken trailer park boy with parents that didn't love him. Unlovable, that was the word. It swelled on his tongue, but he managed to swallow it back.

"Please," Blue said. "You can't stay there." 

Adam used an elbow to push himself up and lowered the ice to check his reflection. Dusty hair, freckles, a black eye- a boy made from dirt. "I can't believe I have to go to school like this," he said, shamelessly changing the subject to something Blue wouldn't brush off.

She reached over to lightly brush the tips of her fingers over the sensitive area. Adam cringed away from her. "Don't worry. Just get the swelling down and I'll cover it up for you." She lifted his hand back to his eye and he complied. That was that.

\---

Blue had done a good job of covering up his black eye with the help of Orla's expert skills in cosmetics and her high end concealer. Despite this, Adam worried all day that someone might notice. It was a silly thing to worry about, if he really thought about it. In the three weeks since his first day of school, he had only been noticed by teachers for his dedication to academia and by students in the hallway telling him to get out of their way. Why would they notice him now? He excelled in invisibility everywhere except for where it mattered most, at home.

After a quiet day at school, Adam set up his things in a quiet corner of the impressive Aglionby library, barricaded by bookshelves and surrounded by stacks of textbooks. His safe space. He was halfway through his math homework when someone cleared their throat.

Adam glanced up from his work to find Ronan's best friend standing over him, all perfect posture and windswept hair. He looked like everything Adam wished he could be, wealthy and smart and charming. Adam tried to take a mental picture of the way he stood there, messenger bag hanging causally from a shoulder, a perfect image of a life Adam wished he had.

"Adam, right?" He smiled. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Adam was frozen with surprise. When the shock wore off, he nodded, sliding some of his books out of the way to make space.

"How rude of me to not introduce myself. I'm Gansey. It's a pleasure." Gansey took a seat and offered a hand to shake. Adam remembered to be firm with his grip the way Noah, an Aglionby alum and trust fund kid, had taught him. 

"Nice to meet you," Adam said, and then wished he had thought of something better to say.

"I've noticed you in Latin. You're very good," Gansey said. "You're the only one who gives Ronan a run for his money."

Adam snorted. Ronan was better at Latin without trying than Adam would ever be, even after dedicating hours of studying and homework to the subject. "I wouldn't say that to Ronan."

Gansey smiled pleasantly, but there were gears turning behind his eyes, calculating the right response. "Ronan's bark is worse than his bite."

"I know." Adam spoke before thinking. He mentally berated himself for the slip, which made Gansey raise his eyebrows, before speaking again. "I mean, I saw him with a little girl last weekend."

"Oh, Opal? He's quite fond of her."

Adam saw his opportunity to snoop and shamelessly took it. "Are they related?"

"No. Ronan did some volunteer work at a tutor center for foster kids over the summer. He met her there." Gansey took out his laptop, but Adam had a feeling it was more to change the subject than to get any work done. Adam had to wonder if Ronan's volunteer work coincided with his bad reputation and rumored arrest. "She's like his little shadow."

Adam bit back a smile. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did Ronan have to be so interesting? His looks were one thing, but Adam could've pushed that shallow interest away. It was his unique personality that brought him into Adam's thoughts again and again.

"So Adam," Gansey said easily, turning to him with a brilliant smile. "Can I check my Latin homework against yours?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the love, guys! I really appreciate it!


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU: Adam works in a coffee shop where Ronan is a regular, pining and angst ensues when Adam starts at Aglionby

Adam's friendship with Gansey came easier than most things in his life. There was an instant click, like a lock turning into place, and suddenly routines were changing right in front of his eyes. He was pinching himself more than ever, unable to wrap his mind around the fact that this was his life, finally unfolding the way he had planned, blooming like a beautiful flower.

Of course, a budding friendship with Richard Gansey meant more exposure to Ronan Lynch.

The expression of pure disgust Ronan wore the first morning Gansey called Adam over in Latin was nearly comical, his brows furrowed and arms crossed. "Really, Gansey? This loser?" he asked, not even offering so much as a hello Adam's way. "I didn't realize we were a charity now."

Adam braced himself for the fallout. Those words, ones that Adam had nightmares about, perfect Aglionby golden boys with ironed uniforms and expensive watches spitting them at his scuffed sneakers, should have knocked the wind out of him. Oddly enough, he felt fine. The harsh sting of embarrassment and self hatred never came.

Gansey, on the other hand, looked horrified. " _Ronan_."

Adam leaned back in his desk and shrugged. "It's fine."

Ronan seemed annoyed by that response and it made Adam smile. His good mood lasted all day.

\--

On Saturday, Ronan didn't show up for a cappuccino at his usual time. The small change threw Adam's routine on its side, his absence a distracting dose of the unordinary. It wasn't until the end of Adam's shift that the door dinged with Ronan's arrival. He was wearing his usual leather jacket, drops of rain from outside making it shine in the fluorescent shop lighting.

"Parrish," he said as a greeting. It was more than he normally got.

"Lynch." Adam nodded his own hello. "Hi."

Ronan opened his mouth to order, but the words died in his throat as Adam picked up a paper cup and marked it with his name and the letter C. The gesture said _I know you_ , even though Ronan was the biggest mystery Adam had ever tried to unravel.

Adam handed the cup to Jeanette and clocked out, stepping aside to split the money in the tip jar two ways. No twenty yet; instead, a line of annoyance between Ronan's eyebrows.

Adam and Ronan headed out at the same time, Ronan holding a warm cup of coffee and Adam pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, swearing under his breath at the rain pelting against the sidewalk. His Goodwill bike was a reliable mode of transportation, but rainy days still came and went, leaving him soaked to the bone and shivering at his destination.

He pushed through the glass doors and hunched his shoulders, though that did nothing to prevent the fabric of his thin sweatshirt from soaking through almost instantly. He struggled to get a grip of his bike lock with clumsy fingers, metal slick with rain. "Shit." Ronan was almost entirely out of his mind until Adam noticed him staring from beside his BMW, not yet speeding off down the road.

"You look pathetic," he said shortly. "Let's go."

Adam glanced up with furrowed eyebrows. A voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like his father screamed _pity_ at him, over and over again, the sound deafening. He was so consumed by the accusation that he almost forgot to respond. Belatedly, he said, "What?"

"Just get in the fucking car, Parrish. Jesus!"

Adam shot one last glance at his bike, imagining the many muddy puddles he'd be splashed with by careless drivers directing screeching tires. Maybe he'd even be struck by lightning or hit by a car in the darkened afternoon. It made sense that he take Ronan up on his offer, merely from a logistical standpoint. It was the only safe choice, letting Ronan drive him home. Walking the thirty minutes to work in the morning was better than biking home in a storm. It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with wanting to be in a car alone with Ronan Lynch. Absolutely not.

"Are you coming or what?" Ronan barked. He swung open the car door and slid inside.

Adam patted the handlebars of his bike, a silent promise to come back for it, and joined Ronan in the warm, dry car. He could hear the sound of his clothes dripping water onto the leather seats. He set his backpack down at his feet and pulled a seatbelt on just in time for Ronan to stomp on the gas rather ungracefully.

"Did Gansey put you up to this?" Adam asked, glancing over at Ronan. He looked even more unapproachable when he drove, like he was in his element and should never be more than a foot away from a steering wheel at any given time. There was a fire in his eyes that Adam would gladly burn in forever.

"Yeah. He told me, 'Ronan, I have a feeling that when you go to get your drink at the Corner Cafe this weekend, it's going to be raining and Adam Parrish is going to need a ride home, so be sure to give him one.' I had no idea Dick was psychic, but there you have it."

Ronan's snippy comment should have annoyed Adam, but he was quickly realizing that Ronan didn't get under his skin the way other people did. Ronan shot sarcasm and insults at him and Adam just searched his brain for a better comeback. With anyone else, he would've been crushed and embarrassed to be sitting there, soaking wet, bumming a ride because he couldn't afford his own car the way his classmates could.

Adam's comeback today was a little lame, but he blamed it on the chill that had settled under his skin from the heavy rain. "Whatever."

"Gansey doesn't control me," Ronan added, as if it were the most important thing in the world that Adam understand that. Adam had a feeling that wasn't entirely true, but he just shrugged in response. "Which way?"

Adam absolutely did not want Ronan to drop him off at home, so instead he directed him through the familiar route towards Blue's house. The music blaring from the speakers was terrible, but it worked as a distraction from having to make conversation. As Ronan drove, Adam split his time staring aimlessly out the window and stealing subtle glances at Ronan.

"Did you get in a fight or something?" Ronan finally asked.

Adam was startled by the question. It took a minute to realize that the rain must have washed off the concealer Blue had applied to his black eye, leaving a dark stretch of bruised skin under his eye. His ears burned.

"No," he said. Then he changed his answer, "Yes. Uh. Sort of."

"You look stupid," he said. Adam silently agreed. He _did_ look stupid, like something broken and impossible to fix.

Ronan parked in front of 300 Fox Way and Adam unbuckled his seatbelt. "Thanks."

"Whatever."

Adam grabbed his backpack and hurried to the front door. Blue opened the door after just one knock, peering over his shoulder to watch the BMW speed down the residential road.

Blue's eyes were wide. "Did you just get out of cappuccino Ronan's car?"

"Yeah," Adam said, heaving his backpack over his shoulder and stepping inside.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU: Adam works in a coffee shop where Ronan is a regular, pining and angst ensues when Adam starts at Aglionby

The cafe was eerily quiet. It was thirty minutes to close and the crowd had cleared out about an hour ago. Now it was just Adam, sweeping the floor, and Noah, leaning lazily back against the counter and manning the register for their non-existent customers. This late in the night, their customer base usually dwindled down to a pair of middle-aged women who drank hot chocolate and gossiped in hushed voices by the window and a few students who scribbled in notebooks and drank espresso to prepare for their all-nighters. Tonight, the cafe was empty.

Noah pulled himself up to sit on the counter as they waited for the clock to set them free for the night. The minute hand was moving immeasurably slowly. "So Adam," he said in that easy tone that Adam envied. How was it so second nature for other boys, that nonchalance with which they took up space and made their thoughts known? "How do you like being a Raven Boy so far?"

Adam didn't look up from his important task of pretending like the floor was still covered in coffee bean dust. "It's been...interesting."

Noah was a good friend, the best Adam had next to Blue. He'd taken Adam under his wing in a lot of ways- providing as many shifts as Adam wanted or needed, paying a decent hourly wage well above Virginia's minimum with tips to boot, giving him advice on Aglionby, even going as far as to offer up his old uniform. Adam had turned the secondhand clothing down, then walked out of work that night to find the clothes in a bag tied to his handlebars. He'd begrudgingly kept them, wearing Noah's old khakis at that very moment, and neither of them had mentioned it since.

"Interesting because of a certain young man with a buzz cut?" Noah wore his best grin, the one that could light up an entire city block in the dead of night. His blonde hair was sticking up in a way that looked naturally messy, but Adam had a feeling he'd put a lot of time and effort into making it look that way.

The mention of Ronan, nameless in this instance but Ronan nonetheless, made Adam's stomach twist with something that was either anxiety or butterflies- he had decided to name it the former, even though it was more accurately a mixture of both. Adam's original plan to keep a safe distance between himself and Ronan crumbled more with each passing day, like an old building giving way to years of rain and decay. Lunches spent doing homework alone were now spent in the company of Gansey, Henry and Ronan, when Ronan decided to stay at school long enough to make it to lunch. In Latin, he sat next to Gansey and listened to him rant about his latest obsession while Ronan, in the seat behind him, sneered and kicked the back of his chair.

" _Noah_."

" _Adam_."

Noah hopped off the counter and gently took the broom from Adam's hands. There were bruises on his wrist, visible for only a moment before Adam shook his long sleeves back into place to cover them. Noah knew better than to comment on it, setting the broom aside, Vans squeaking as he walked on the clean tile floor towards the door.

"If it's any consolation, I'm pretty sure he likes you too," Noah said. He flipped the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED, despite it being twenty minutes early.

"No he doesn't."

"He does. I was ringing him up the other day when you weren't here. He was looking around for you."

Adam's cheeks burned. He looked anywhere but at Noah- at the floor, at the counter, at the clock. He wasn't sure he'd ever been this embarrassed before. "You're making that up."

"Adam!" Noah gave him a friendly swat on the shoulder. Adam cringed involuntarily at the contact and Noah immediately looked regretful. "Would I lie to you?"

They both knew the truth: he wouldn't.

\---

When the lunch bell rang later that week, Adam threw his bag over a shoulder and headed into the cafeteria, scanning the crowd for Gansey. There was no sign of him among the other picture perfect boys, but he did find Ronan sitting at their usual table alone, picking at a pile of soggy french fries soaked in ketchup. Adam considered turning around and setting up shop in the library. Some unspoken force propelled him forward instead, one foot in front of the other, until he found himself sitting beside Ronan.

"Where's Gansey?"

"I don't know. Probably with Cheng," Ronan said, unfazed. He lifted his eyes to meet Adam's. Adam's breath caught in his throat at those dark eyelashes framing those blue eyes. _Fuck_.

Ronan's eyebrows raised at the finger-shaped bruises on Adam's wrist, which Adam quickly moved beneath the table. Ronan's expression was unreadable. "Fighting again, Parrish?"

Adam shrugged. Ronan didn't press the subject, which felt a lot like Adam's heart swelling up to twice its normal size. Maybe an act of pity, maybe something else. Maybe something better.

Ronan stood suddenly, shoving the rest of his lunch in Adam's direction. "I'm getting out of here. You can come if you want." Whether Ronan's tone was real nonchalance or a practiced nonchalance, Adam couldn't tell. He looked up at him, standing there in the middle of the cafeteria, and tried to determine if this was all some big joke with him as the punchline. Adam wasn't usually one to skip out on school, but something about Ronan's offer was attractive and dangerous, just like the boy in question.

After a long hesitation, Adam nodded. "Okay," he said. His words, at least, _were_ practiced nonchalance- really terrible fake indifference that wouldn't fool a soul.

Ronan pretended like he was fooled anyway. Maybe pity, maybe something else. He reached over and picked up Adam's backpack, swinging it over a shoulder. When he met Adam's eyes, his own were shining, teeth bared in a display of rebellion. Adam could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a minute.

"Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the comments! You guys are the best! 
> 
> Sorry this one's a little short, the next one will be long enough to make up for it.


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